


Gaydar

by JustJasper



Series: Angst Bingo 2011 [20]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Confessions, Drinking, Drunken Confessions, Friendship, Gen, Rape (reference)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-15
Updated: 2011-08-15
Packaged: 2018-01-25 22:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1665275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustJasper/pseuds/JustJasper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgan and Elle get drunk, and Morgan shares some truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gaydar

**Author's Note:**

> One-shot. Fill for the prompt "truth serum" at angst_bingo

_“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.” - Søren Kierkegaard_

  
  
Elle pressed another shot of vodka into Morgan’s hand. She wasn’t trying to get him drunk, they were both as drunk as each other. They had avoided the awkward small talk; they hadn’t talked about what had made her leave the BAU, or the events in Chicago that had spurred Morgan to go see her. He clinked his shot glass against hers, and they both downed them.  
  
“I love him,” Morgan blurted. Elle blinked a few times, now handing the man a beer.  
  
“You mean Reid,” she said surely.  
  
“Yeah,” He nodded, then a little louder, “yeah.”  
  
“Does he know?”  
  
“No,” he grunted, laughing derisively. “Reid wouldn’t know someone was in love with him if they wrote it on their ass and flashed him.”  
  
“Have you tried that? Might be worth a go.”  
  
He laughed again, swigging from his beer.  
  
“I think he’s straight,” Morgan continued, tongue loosened by the alcohol, more effective than amobarbital could.  
  
“I think you have crappy gaydar,” she quipped.  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“Maybe it takes a gay to know a gay-” she flourished her wrist, “and since you, Morgan, are a straight guy with an exception, you probably don’t see it. Me, the ladykiller that I am,” she paused to grin proudly, holding her beer aloft, “knows a gay when she sees one. And Reid likes dudes. Girls too, maybe, but he definitely likes dudes.”  
  
“Maybe,” he shrugged. “But am I dude he likes?”  
  
“Personally, I think he’s been in love with you for longer than you’ve been in love with him.”  
  
“What?” he spluttered into his beer. “Really?”  
  
“You are clearly just as bad at picking up on signals. I spent so much time trying to subtly get you two to realise you wanted each other,” she sounded annoyed, but she was teasing, “and now you come confess your love to the wrong person.”  
  
“How would it even work?” Morgan exhaled thoughtfully through his nose. “I want him, like I think about being with him, but... I’ve never been with a dude. Not that I wanted to be with, anyway,” he added after a pause.  
  
“Ditto,” she concurred, drinking from her bottle. Morgan smiled sadly at her, acknowledging that shared experience they had. “But if you both love each other, you can make it work.”  
  
“But what if I’m not very good?”  
  
“Good?”  
  
“At being gay?”  
  
“Morgan,” she spluttered with laughter, but put a kind hand on his arm, “there isn’t a right way to be gay. Or bisexual. Or whatever. You just have to talk and do what’s right for you two.”  
  
“But we can’t work together and be together.”  
  
“Says who?”  
  
“There are rules.”  
  
“Rules that make no sense," she countered. “If you can do your job, why shouldn’t be able to be together?”  
  
“But-”  
  
“What’s the point of the job if you aren’t making the world a place where you two can be together? You’re not Jedis, you’re not guardians of the balance who aren’t allowed to love.”  
  
“Jedis?” he raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Oh shut up,” she swatted him, “you know Star Wars. But I’m serious, you should tell him you love him and want to be with him. Life is too short to wait around on this.”  
  
Morgan pressed his lips together thoughtfully, considering Elle’s words.   
  
“Okay.” He nodded. “I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna tell him.”  
  
“Good,” she grinned. “Oh, and Garcia probably totally knows you’re gay for each other, so if you need help, go to her.”  
  
Morgan almost choked on his beer.  
  


_“When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie.” - Yevgeny Yevtushenko_


End file.
